Devious Journal Entry

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Allison-beriyani's avatar
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I might or might not have told you that there's a very large mule deer buck that lives year-round in a graveyard a couple of miles from my house. He's slightly piebald, so he's got a splash of white on his face surrounding a blue eye, and another patch on his rump.  This probably means he's somewhat inbred, but the slightly hippy-dippy owners of the graveyard think it means he's a "Spirit Animal" and let him stick around/feed him as a good luck thing.  They also named him "Lightning".  

Lightning has a pretty sweet deal going on- he gets a few corn cobs a week and all the lawn he can eat, plenty of large gravestones and a couple of mausoleums to hang out behind in case of nasty weather, and since he's well inside city limits, is perfectly safe from hunters, despite being a trophy animal. (and while Boulder Police have proved that there are people dumb enough to poach in the middle of residential areas, the people dumb enough to do that tend to also be superstitious enough to not hunt in graveyards.)

The graveyard owners are also getting a good deal out of this, because apparently Lightning is very popular with the soon-to-be-interred crowd, and is a major selling point when people are picking out plots.
"...And this is Lightning, Our resident deer." they say.
"Oh isn't he handsome," the older folks say. "I'm sure he's quite charming. I'd like to hang out with him when I'm dead." they say.
The people who pick out plots after someone has passed like him too.  Apparently Fort Collins has a large population of people who believe in guardian animals and like the idea of thier loved ones being watched out for by a magnificent stag. (and he is magnificent- six tines on each antler and the size of a small horse,in addition to the blue eye.)

This graveyard is also adjacent to a golf course, major public park and a high school. So people are always in there, looking for golf balls, walking their dogs, or the track team is running laps. One of the owner's children runs a band, and they sometimes come over to play for the dead. People regularly have picnics with deceased family members and small children. I like to think that the dead are amused by the goings-on.

If nothing else, it supports the concept that death is part of life, which is much better than what most graveyards do.

© 2013 - 2024 Allison-beriyani
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Jorda96's avatar
...picnics with the dead? Wow. That does sound a bit weird.
I wouldn't mind seeing a deer though. Last time I did I thought it was a dog, you should have seen how surprised I was. And theeen I tried to catch it, not so successfully of course. I blame my 10 year old self. But then I also remember that I would most likely do the same thing now.